Re: page n of x

[Gary Guthrie <GaryGuthrie@xxxxxxxx>]

Sure it's a simple-to-code solution. Often, weak solutions are. And,
this is indeed a weak solution.

Two obvious flaws are

1) There's no guarantee that the data has not changed between runs of
the report. This means incorrect output.

2) If the report is created from I/O intensive (or for that matter,
anything that runs for a LONG time) attributes such as reading a few
HUGE files, there is a penalty. If the report takes 12 hours to produce
now, it will take 24 hours to produce with the simple-to-code solution.

The measure of a solution is not in terms of the effort required to code
the solution, but rather in terms of the robustness of the solution.

Gary Guthrie
REAL Solutions Technical Support
NEWS/400 Technical Editor


jt wrote:
> 
> John Hall,
> 
> I had created a test RPGIV to see how well John Carr's two-pass approach
> would work.  I also had attempted to use an external indicator to suppress
> printing on the first pass (I used QSYSPRT).  But as you said, it didn't
> work in RPGIV (returned total pages of zero when indicator was off).
> 
> As far as overriding to NULL device, you can override to an OUTQ that is not
> attached to a writer, and then delete the printout from the first pass.
> 
> I sure don't understand the benefit of using an API, just to get the total
> pages to print.  It took me longer to write these posts, than it did to code
> the test programs.  And the 2-pass solution _worked the first time_.  Can
> you say that of the API approach?  Maybe I'm missing something.
> 
> jt
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com [mailto:owner-rpg400-l@midrange.com]On
> Behalf Of John Hall
> Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2000 8:48 AM
> To: RPG400-L@midrange.com
> Subject: Re: page n of x
> 
> You can also use an external indicator on the printer file to suppress
> output on the first pass.  This will not work in all situations.
> Results will vary depending on RPG version and printer file type but if
> you handle page breaks within the program you can call the program with
> the external indicator off, return the total page count, then call the
> program with the indicator on.  I think RPGIII will a program described
> printer file will handle the overflow correctly regardless of the
> external indicator but I couldn't get RPGIV with an external printer
> file to update the INFDS with the external indicator off.
> 
> Another possibility might be to override the file to a NULL device -
> anybody know how to do this ?
> 
> John Hall
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